


Return to Us

by Jaune_Chat



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Anal Sex, Apologies, Knotting, Multi, Oral Sex, Pack Feels, Rimming, Talking Through Things Like Adults, Threesome - M/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 10:11:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17826722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaune_Chat/pseuds/Jaune_Chat
Summary: Over a year since the aftermath of the Civil War, Tony finds himself in a super-battle where he gets unexpected help from two Avengers that have been declared criminals.  When the battle is over, Tony realizes he has more to fix than his busted suit, he has pack bonds that desperately needs to be healed...





	Return to Us

From Tony’s height, he could see Steve and Barnes were knee-deep in what looked like extra-large cyborg bat-armadillos. They’d done a good job of beating the creatures back from the civilians (and the local police were doing their best to evacuate everyone even further away), but they needed some cover and clean-up before the critters could regroup. From the metal boxes on the cyborgs’ heads, someone was likely nearby playing a flesh-and-blood video game with his new creations, and wasn’t likely to stop even with Captain America on the field. Steve knocked one critter into the others like he was breaking a frame in pool, giving them some breathing room, and Barnes took off running. FRIDAY calculated from his trajectory, and the rifle slung over his back, that the Winter Soldier was looking for a sniper’s perch. Maybe they already had a bead on where the controller had stashed himself, but Tony couldn’t stop to do a full scan of the city block.

Iron Man’s presence took some of the pressure off of Steve as a half-dozen of the cyborgs flew up to meet him on flesh-and-metal wings. Tony blasted and dodged as they fired back with what looked like flaming balls of napalm. He knocked five out of the sky and had to dodge and circle the sixth as it came in and a superior angle, and tried to aim for the power pack on its shoulder. Then a shot rang out. Friday reported that below, the controller had acquired a sudden lethal case of lead poisoning. The cyborgs collapsed like puppets with their strings cut. 

Unfortunately that meant fifteen hundred pounds of mutant cyborg went from flying target to dead weight falling right at Tony. It hit squarely, bouncing him off two buildings as the sudden weight bore him to the ground, right into a burning wreck.

His body announced that it had had enough, thank you, and Tony felt into blackness

\--

Tony blinked back into painful consciousness with agonizing slowness. The lights from his HUD danced in front of his eyes, but at minimal settings, so at least he wasn’t being blinded by his own equipment. As soon as he could focus, FRIDAY started her diagnostics, and Tony felt a few little stings as she administered the appropriate medications to get him back to functional. Though he felt exactly like he had been used as a ping-pong ball against skyscrapers, the worst of the headache and bruise pain faded into something bearable.

“Boss, you’re in a secure location,” she said unprompted, as Tony refocused on a slightly water-stained plaster ceiling above him, lightly striped with golden sunlight. “Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes got the cyborg off you, but you were still out from the fall. They asked me if you wanted to wait for the local authorities to get you help, or recover more privately. As the locals had clean-up well in hand, I opted for privacy for you.”

She flashed up his location, a house some fifty miles away from the battle. “UN forces backed by SHIELD secured the tech. I let them know you were on your way home, boss.”

Tony raised an eyebrow. “Lots of initiative there, kid.” He was damn proud of her; JARVIS couldn’t have done better.

“Not sure what else to do, boss. You didn’t need major medical attention, and the UN forces were closer than SHIELD. The UN forces couldn’t talk to you, and your hosts didn’t want to talk to them.”

Well, Tony wanted to talk to Ross like he wanted two simultaneous root canals. Not to mention that he definitely didn’t want old Thunderbolt to get his grubby paws on the latest version of Iron Man, even if he couldn’t have gotten it off of Tony’s body intact. Steve and Barnes were definitely the lesser of those two evils, by a very wide margin. He didn’t particularly want to talk to them, or anyone, right now, but he likely wasn’t going to get what he wanted. FRIDAY wasn’t going to let him fly until he’d had a better chance to rest and rehydrate, so unless the building started coming down around his ears, he was going to have to face the music.

“They know you’re awake, boss,” FRIDAY said.

“You told them?” Tony accused, but without much heat. How they had gotten his heavy, titanium-clad ass back to their safe house without anyone seeing him was a minor miracle, and the very least FRIDAY could have done was let them know he was alive and able to talk.

Likely they were waiting to see if Tony was about to sic Secretary Ross on them.

“They’re worried for you,” FRIDAY clarified. 

That revelation didn’t bring the reflexive anger from months ago. He couldn’t afford to carry that much baggage anymore, not now that Pepper and him were on the verge of working something out. He couldn’t try to be the protector people needed while stomping around like Banner’s green side on a bad day.

So. Rogers was worried for him.

“Care to sit up, boss?” At a nod, the suit got him up slowly, the internal temperature shifting to cool and another sting of medication was deployed to keep him from puking into the helmet. Across the small room, sitting on the edges of some worn kitchen chairs at a tiny table, Rogers and Barnes were looking tense and nervous. Considering the last time they’d been together they’d all been trying to kill or beat each other senseless, that was fair.

Barnes looked slightly haunted around the eyes, but the rest of him was all business, from set jaw to tense shoulders. Steve was only a little more at ease, and most of that had to have been from familiarity. He _knew_ he had beaten Tony once before.

Tony was pretty sure of a win this time around, since he’d improved the suit and wasn’t stressing under four or five emotional gut blows. 

But as he watched Steve’s stoic wariness, the way he and Barnes watched the windows, they weren’t waiting for him to start shooting. No, they were ready for danger from the outside, either against them or him. He decided to be touched by their concern, because otherwise he’d probably be still pinned under fifteen hundred pounds of cyborg mutant beast plus debris of a skyscraper or three with a massive headache and everyone assuming Iron Man could help himself. Or worse, having to be dug out by local police or the UN forces.

“Tony, are you all right? FRIDAY wouldn’t tell us much.”

 _“Privacy protocols, boss. I just said you didn’t need advanced medical care and estimated the time you’d wake up,”_ FRIDAY said in his ear.

Tony waited to see if anything was going to make a return appearance from his stomach, decided it wasn’t, and popped his faceplate.

Steve and Barnes winced a little. 

“Oh, that bad?” Barnes pointed to a nearby mirror in the hallway (cannily positioned so one could see the entryway) and Tony could see he looked like a masked ferret with his matching set of blackened eyes. “Looks worse than it is. Shock gel took most of it.”

“Didn’t know they’d collapse like that,” Barnes said, eyes flicking up to catch Tony’s expression before staring slightly off into the distance.

“Once lucky with the Chitauri. I really didn’t expect that good luck to happen twice either,” Tony said. He flexed his limbs within the armor, and other than some general bruising, it felt like he’d managed to escape major injury. That really left only one thing left to do. “What are you guys doing, monitoring Prague’s police radio for rampaging cyborgs?”

Steve chuffed out a small laugh. “We were in the neighborhood and thought we’d lend a hand.” What he didn’t say, and what Tony appreciated that he didn’t say, was that Steve hadn’t been sure the UN would authorize any Avenger in Europe after the whole German airport debacle. And it went without saying that Steve Rogers never backed down from a fight. He wouldn’t let the Accord politics keep him from saving people.

Tony could feel the energy in the room getting more and more strained, unforgivable words and actions hanging too thickly between them. This time, though, there was a difference. Steve’s scent was back to something pleasant and neutral, as opposed to the metallic stress he’d reeked of during Barnes’ reappearance. And Barnes smelled clean again, a deep, strong alpha scent, musk and pine with the hint of metal and oil from his arm, instead of fear, tension, and despair.

Tony too knew he was getting back to himself, apple-and-coconut instead of the rancid fruit of someone about to messily implode from self-flagellation and unearthed rage.

“Thanks for the assist,” Tony said as an opening.

“Anytime,” Steve said, sincere as a summer’s day. Tony felt a squirm of shame in his gut, alongside some old anger.

“Ross doesn’t know I’m here, and I’m going to keep it that way,” he added quickly, and got flashes of relief on both of their faces.

“We’d hoped that. Thanks, Tony.”

“I’m sorry,” Barnes said abruptly, and Tony closed his eyes. So. They were going to do this right now. He opened his eyes again, and silently thanked FRIDAY for the pain blockers, or else he wouldn’t have been able to focus enough to deal with this. “I know I did it. I don’t remember, but I know I did. I’m sorry.”

“You told me you remembered all of them,” Tony said, trying to keep a bite out of his voice. Steve looked like he was holding his breath, watching to see where this was going to go.

Barnes shook his head. “You needed to hear that.”

Tony swallowed hard. At the time he wouldn’t have accepted anything less. Barnes hadn’t been holding back, he’d been _giving up_.

“I should have told you,” Steve said, and Tony shook his head.

“I already got that, Cap. In writing.” In his mind’s eye, Tony was seeing Bucky’s desperate flight to get away from Tony’s rampage, then an even more desperate fight to keep him from taking down Steve. He’d blown Barnes’ bad arm clean off. Barnes was sporting what had to be Wakandan tech now, sleek and beautiful. There was less wary, hunted animal vibes coming off of him. If he was fighting at Steve’s side, his mind had to be back under his own control again. He was no longer that dead-eyed walking weapon Tony had seen in that horrible, grainy footage or face-to-face after Zemo had unleashed him in the UN base.

“I went too far,” Tony said, swallowing the last of his pride. He’d known it the second Steve had dropped his shield in that Siberian bunker, when the rage had subsided and cold pain and reality had returned. “Way too far.” He hadn’t even been able to blame Loki for his poor decisions this time, just close to thirty years’ worth of baggage and a near-decade of trauma that he hadn’t really dealt with until he’d been left alone. There had never been a good time for Steve to tell him about what the Winter Soldier had done, and Zemo had seen to it the revelations of Hydra’s cruelty had come at the worst possible time. “Hydra’s the one to blame,” Tony said. 

He hated having to do this so baldly, but he hated the idea of pushing Steve away forever more. Barnes had deserved his understanding, even if he couldn’t have mustered up a lot of compassion at the time. And right now both of them deserved more.

“Yeah,” Barnes said in simple agreement. Tony could feel a lot of tension building between them. He didn’t have the greatest pack instincts, but even someone like him could feel the breach that needed closing here.

He sucked it up, put his heart out, and cracked the suit of armor. Bucky relaxed and Steve leaned up against him, beta connection supporting alpha strength. Tony made the third, the omega heart. Which was enough to make a cat laugh, except at times like these, when healing was more important than saving face or salving pride.

“Come on, guys.” Tony stood carefully and closed the distance between them. He’d started this, and he had to finish it. As he got within touching distance Steve and Barnes, they rose to meet him, their shoulders touching as they leaned into one another. Heat pooled between them where they touched, even from Barnes’ metallic arm, and he could feel the formidable strength of the two men supporting him. 

Steve gave him the ghost of a smile, and nodded at a door off the hallway to the left. “Bathroom’s right there. Bedroom’s the next door down.”

Tony leaned back a little, just taking some of the pressure off, and realized that all of them were sporting the rank odors of sweat and dust from the fight overlaying their natural scents. He grimaced, nodded, and headed to the bathroom door. He stopped after two steps, feeling a tug on his heart, and turned back to beckon the other two to come with him. 

The last time he’d done something like this had been in the wake of the Chitauri fight, Loki tied up with Mjolnir on his chest to keep him from going anywhere, the rest of the Avengers doing a proper meet-and-greet in his oversized bathroom and equally oversized bedroom. They’d all been sore and injured and all moving slow and careful, but it had been good, really good. Tony remembered the electric zing of kissing Thor while Steve filled him with deep, strong thrusts, of petting Bruce from head to toe to welcome him in while not bringing the Hulk out to play, of Natasha letting him kiss up her thighs in a moment of vulnerability she felt confident to show them, and Clint had been _everywhere_ , figuring out exactly what to do to get everyone gasping in pleasure. It had been… Tony hadn’t felt so good about a group bonding in a long time. 

He looked back over his shoulder, at Steve and Bucky following him, Steve looking cautiously eager, Bucky looking both intrigued and worried, and realized he was starting to feel good about this too. He’d broken too many bonds last year, and finding new ones and repairing old ones had become a much higher priority than his pride.

Tony headed into the shower, turning up the spray to hot and easing out of his clothes with a care for new bruises. Steve and Bucky were right behind him, and he slowed and smoothed his movements down, making it into a little show. He couldn’t help it; he always played to an audience. He heard Steve’s breath hitch a bit as the last bit of cloth hit the ground, and Tony stepped into the hot spray with a smile on his face. He wasn’t sure how long the hot water would last, and so washed quickly with a quick squirt of shampoo, just enough to get the sweat off. When he turned around, Steve was looking at him with more a smile and a lot of appreciation, and Bucky had lost the worried expression completely. There was a flash of sympathy when Bucky’s eyes skimmed over the flat scar on his chest, and more than that, real empathy. Without ceremony, Bucky shucked off his own shirt, compressed and wrinkled from being under his armor, revealing musculature to rival Steve’s, and spreading, spider-web scars from the flesh-metal join of his shoulder. 

Tony stepped out of the shower to let Bucky in (no giant, room-sized shower here in this little safehouse unfortunately), meeting his eyes briefly before sliding his gaze over to his scars. He nodded as Bucky turned into the spray, eyebrows raising in appreciation as Bucky’s backside came into view. That wasn’t the only thing that was raising, Tony discovered, as he glanced over at Steve to see him staring at Bucky with a soft expression, slightly parted lips, and a tent in his pants. 

Not that Tony blamed him. These two had a love that literally spanned centuries, and Bucky had an ass that wouldn’t quit. The look on Steve’s face reminded him of his own when he looked at Pepper, soft and a little dopey. (He would admit to that in the privacy of his own mind.) That wasn’t just a nostalgic expression, that was a very in-the-moment one too; their love was of the updated variety, accepted and aware of everything that had gone down between them. Tony was feeling the vibes in the room, the old bond with Steve resonating with that new-old bond to Bucky, and could get more than an inkling of what Steve was feeling. It was… good, more than good to realize his instincts were working again.

Besides, on a purely visceral, lustful, sexual level, Bucky was built like a very sexy tank, and this was _not_ going to be one of those businesslike meet-and-greets he used to do for Stark Industries, where everyone barely got out of their suits and tried not to muss anyone’s hair as they laid back and thought of England. Or profits. 

Bucky quickly washed, tossing a sweet smile at Steve as he shucked his clothes for his turn under the spray. As Steve and Bucky traded places, Tony and Bucky traded glances, because Steve was… Well, Steve was Steve, practically perfect in every way.

“Looking good, Rogers,” Tony said, leaning against the wall by the shower to try to hide his eagerness. Bucky wasn’t hiding anything, because he looked like he was about ready to tackle Steve and carry him off to the bedroom as soon as he was done. He was at very full mast, and Tony licked his lips a little, considering the cock that was going to be inside him soon. It did not look like a disappointing dick in the least. Bucky shot a glance at Tony as Steve quickly washed, and reached out tentatively with his right hand.

Tony stared at it, then slid his hands up to Bucky’s face. There was a very tentative, hopeful, and apologetic smile on his face. And decided interest in his eyes. There was nothing there of that dead-eyed weapon that had been in that horribly grainy footage, or of the fiercely murderous monster who Tony had taken on with a few scraps of tech and a lot of determination. No, there was just a lot of hope. Tony took his hand, and went along with the gentle tug to bring him next to Bucky. Up close, he loomed a bit, but in a decidedly sexy way. Bucky was strong, broad, and right now radiating protective vibes that were definitely doing something for Tony. He let his head tilt to the side and Bucky leaned down to smell and taste him, tongue lightly following the muscles of his neck and the glands therein. The feather-light touch sent a pleasant shiver down his spine, and the little half-heard swear Bucky made at the end was boosting both of their confidences tremendously. 

Yeah, okay, they were doing this, and it was going to be _good_.

“You smell really amazing,” Bucky rumbled, releasing his hold on Tony’s hand to slide it up his arm, leaving goosebumps in its wake. “Taste really good, too.”

Tony leaned close in, feeling the heat radiating off of Bucky’s skin, the rising musk of his arousal getting thicker by the minute, returning the caress up Bucky’s left arm. It was warm too, satin-smooth with only faint lines at the joints and plates. From the little gasp Bucky made, it also apparently had plenty of touch sensors. Tony let his fingers trail up past the metal, onto the ridged scars of his shoulder, going past them without lingering or hurrying until he had cupped his hand around Bucky’s waist. 

The shower abruptly turned off, snapping Tony and Bucky out of their reverie. Steve was drying himself as fast as he could, staring at them both with naked hunger in his eyes. “Please?” he asked, tossing the towel in the general direction of the rack, hitting it squarely without even looking, of course. “Bedroom now?”

“Aw, we get you down to two-word sentences, Stevie?” Bucky asked. His voice was so saccharinely sweet it made Steve glare at them, and Tony tried not to grin. Bucky had some definite charm, and from the adoring look in Steve’s eyes, that was one of those things that stemmed from a century ago. Tony might have felt like an intruder in their idyll, except when both men turned to look at him with promise and wicked intent.

 _Fuck,_ Tony swore mentally, because Steve had always been the lynchpin of Avenger bonding orgies, and he was hardly going to relinquish the title now. Steve slid his hands over both of their shoulders, high color blooming in his cheeks, and led them to the bedroom. Sadly, it was not the size of Tony’s bed, which he had had custom made precisely for the purpose of group bonding sessions, but they had shoved two large mattresses together and layered them with enough soft blankets to make a deeply desirable nest.

He wasn’t in heat, and he didn’t need to be for this; hell, it was better that he wasn’t. Tony knew he wasn’t always the most patient man (as massive amount of past video evidence could prove), and he didn’t need to be grasping and needy right now. He wanted to be here for _them._

Steve gasped a little when Bucky ran his fingertips over the swell of his bicep, Tony mirroring him, drawing another little intake of breath out of him. Steve reached out to both of them, hands seeking Bucky’s head and neck, Tony’s waist, eagerly curling around them with gentle pressure. Betas were the equalizer in any pack, distracting the hyper-focus of alphas and omegas with their arousal and touch. They became particularly sensitive and responsive to being caressed, to touching others, and that beautiful distraction was what let bonding slow down and breathe, instead of being a sharp, fast orgy of sucking and fucking.

Not that that wasn’t fun too, but not when you were trying to build something with care. Steve was a generous lover, and Tony was certain he would have been, beta or no. But a sufficiently aroused beta could be brought to climax just by touching them damn near anywhere; their whole _bodies_ became one large erogenous zone. Tony shot Bucky a look, flicked his eyes over at Steve, then the bed. Bucky responded by pushing Steve onto the bed and nodding Tony on first.

Tony appreciated that. He knew Steve better, knew what he wanted, and crawled slowly up the bed to give it to him. Steve smiled at him, and then sat up to stop Tony from prowling towards him like a cat. He was about to protest when Bucky whispered a heartfelt, “oh fuck”, and Tony felt the warmth of his breath on his exposed hole and thighs. The whisper of air felt damn good on Tony’s slick-damp skin. Tony bit his lip and nodded when Bucky’s hands slid over his ass, warm flesh and satin-smooth warm metal making him push back into his touch. Bucky groaned and then muffled himself as he dove in, tongue laving over Tony’s sopping wet pucker, opening him up with that strong, wickedly clever muscle. 

Tony dropped his head into Steve’s chest, whining a little as he breathed in Steve’s scent, his hands kneading at the sheets as he concentrated on the unbelievably hot sensation of the tongue in his ass, marked with the faint scrape of Bucky’s stubble against his thighs. It was a whole lot of delightfully too much, and Tony needed a distraction desperately. He fluttered his eyes open enough to see Steve staring down at him, hand in his hair to pet and soothe him, looking just a little bit smug at how much Tony was enjoying himself.

 _Challenge accepted,_ the functioning part of Tony’s brain declared. Tony could see how flushed Steve was getting, his body becoming more sensitive as alpha and omega pheromones rose to trigger his own arousal with his packmates. Tony got the presence of mind to kiss and nip down Steve’s ridiculously muscular chest and stomach until he felt the hardness of Steve’s erection against his cheek. Steve’s breath hitched at the touch, and then he shouted as Tony gratefully swallowed it down. Anything to distract from Bucky and his damn magic tongue, and there was nothing more wonderfully distracting that Steve Roger’s perfect dick. The weight of it on Tony’s tongue was grounding, and he suckled on it in relief until he found his rhythm. Bucky was driving him higher and higher, but as long as he had the focus of a good blowjob to keep him level, Tony could keep this going all night.

“Tony, oh, Tony… So good-” Steve’s breath hitched, his hand flexing in Tony’s hair.

Bucky growled a little, a touch territorial in a good way, and pulled away from Tony. Tony let Steve go just long enough to turn back and see why Bucky had dared stop such a brilliant scheme they had going. His eyes fluttered as his body trickled more slick down his thighs, feeling a low, fever-like buzz as his lust mounted.

“You both look so good,” Steve said, his eyes half-lidded as he touched Tony, his sensitive hands making him buck against Tony as every movement increased his arousal and pulled him closer to the precipice. Tony fucking loved that about Steve, and from the look on Bucky’s face, that feeling was very, very mutual.

As Bucky stood to get a better look at Steve’s pleasure-dopey expression, Tony got a good look at the flushed, hard cock twitching between his thighs, his knot just slightly rounded out in eager anticipation of what was coming. Completing the circle, reinforcing the bonds of the pack, making up for a whole lot of loss and misunderstanding, smoothing that over with some new and visceral connections… Bucky was hesitating just a little as he looked back at Tony, and Tony felt a zing of satisfaction from his restraint. 

“Come on, give it to me,” Tony said quickly, and turned back to swirl his tongue around Steve again. With a shout, Steve came into Tony’s mouth without warning, following that up with an embarrassed, “Sorry, sorry, I-” Tony swallowed down what he could, chuckling a little at Steve’s enthusiasm. Steve’s ridiculously short refractory period had been the subject of a lot of sexy experimenting during Avengers bonding time, so Tony had that down to a _science_.

That chuckle turned into a heartfelt moan as Bucky pushed in with his cock, thick and hot, filling Tony up beautifully as Bucky’s hands curved around his hips. The hint of a knot felt perfect, wet as Tony was, and he pulled off of Steve to muffle himself in the soft skin of Steve’s side as Bucky bottomed out inside him, holding excruciatingly still. 

Steve stroked down Tony’s head and neck, wiping away the excess splashes of white, and husked in Tony’s ear, “You want to turn over? Bucky would love to see you.”

 _Shit_. Of course Steve remembered that Tony loved it when he could see his partner’s face, and that being sandwiched between two partners was, well, a very huge turn-on. Tony nodded into Steve’s side, and sighed as Bucky pulled out. Steve had him flipped and cradled between his ridiculously muscled thighs, hands on Tony’s shoulders, then Bucky filled him up before he could utter another sound.

Tony opened his eyes as Bucky finally began to move, breath catching at the intense focus in his eyes and the sensation of being filled, deeply, satisfyingly, completely, with every thrust of his hips. Tony tried to push back against him, braced against Steve, but Bucky was leaning into him, too strong to resist. It was seriously sexy, and got even more so when Bucky raised his hand, his dark metal hand, to hover over Tony’s erection. Waiting for permission.

“Give me that metal, alpha,” Tony breathed, and watched Bucky’s intensity soften into something a little easier, relaxing into his motions with a hint of a smile. He dipped his hand between them to gather some of Tony’s slick, then curved it around his cock, stroking him in easy rhythm. There was no way Bucky could have missed Tony’s keen interest in fine technology, and he mentally congratulated him. Tony’s orgasm was getting closer every heartbeat, and he needed a distraction, fast. Steve’s dick was sadly a firm warmth against his back rather than in his mouth, but Steve’s fingers were lingering just in his line of sight.

Tony took Steve’s hand and stroked it in long, light patterns, making Steve keen in pleasure before shouting out loud as Tony slipped his first two fingers into his mouth, laving his tongue all over them.

“Tony, damn, the look on his face… He making you feel good, baby?” Bucky asked, his voice hoarse with arousal. Steve made some little gasp of assent as Tony felt another spurt of hot wetness against his back. The expression on Steve’s face seemed to drive Bucky over the edge, and his hips snapped into Tony sharply a half-dozen times before his knot swelled with wonderful pressure and heat, locking him deep inside. Shuddering through his orgasm, Bucky kept stroking Tony until waves of pleasure seized him, rocking him between Steve and Bucky as he held onto them hard.

As the pulses of pleasure settled down to the contentment of being tied, Tony realized he was still holding Steve’s hand. He idly stroked it with his thumb, caressing the calluses left by his years of using the shield. Bucky was curled up over Tony, nearly touching. He looked up at Tony, then down again, slowly lowering himself until his forehead was touching the spot where the arc reactor had once sustained Tony’s life. It didn’t feel vulnerable anymore. It wasn’t a weakness. It no longer hurt.

Tony brought his other hand up to hold Bucky close to him, and kept ahold of Steve. His pack. Not something anyone was going to tear apart, ever again.

“I’m so glad I found you,” Tony murmured, and felt his pack echo him in the close space they shared as one.


End file.
